The present invention relates to the field of casings and protective covers in general, and in particular to machine casings and protective covers arranged on the rack or frame of the machine.
In machine and plant engineering, machines or plants or their components are provided with a casing arranged, for example, on the machine or on the component or on a rack or support, for different reasons, for example for noise protection or safety reasons. Various safety guidelines exist which necessitate casing of the machine, for example for protecting users of the machines from parts moving during operation or from current of voltage-carrying parts. One example of such plants are the applicant's paper-handling plants for handling and/or enveloping goods, such as letters and the like.
FIG. 8 shows a photographic illustration of one of the applicant's paper-handling plants for combining and enveloping goods. Three plant modules can be seen in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, wherein it is irrelevant for the purpose of the present application which function the actual plant modules fulfil. Each plant module comprises a frame or rack where the respective plant components are arranged, wherein vertical beams 800 can be seen in the example shown in FIG. 8. Further, the frames of the modules comprise cross-beams that cannot be seen in FIG. 8, wherein, for example, two cross-beams are provided on one side of the frame in order to connect two adjacent vertical beams with one another. One cross-beam is arranged in an upper portion of the module, and a second cross-beam is arranged on a lower portion of the module. A cover 802 is held on this cross-beam, for example such that the cover 802 includes respective elements by which the cover 802 is suspended into the cross-beams. Similarly, if necessitated, a casing is also suspended on the other sides of the module. Further, for head modules, such as the module shown on the left in FIG. 8, a casing is suspended at a head end, whereas the next module merely comprises a cover on opposite sides, the sides adjacent to other modules, however, being provided without any cover.
The cover 802 serves to separate the machine components from the environment, to provide protection of the machine components from environmental influences, but also to protect the persons operating the machine so that no accidents or injuries occur during operation of the machine, for example by reaching into the running plant. For this reason, the cover 802 is not only suspended into the cross-beams of the rack or frame of the machine, but additionally, such casings are usually locked or unlocked or released by means of a special tool in order to ensure that release of the cover is avoided also during operation, thus ensuring protection of the operating staff.
With unlocked casings, no sufficient protection is ensured since the casings are not held on the rack during operation of the plant, but, rather, can become loose due to the movement of the plant during operation, so that sufficient mounting of the casing on the rack or frame of the machine is only ensured by locking.